The International Application :

An application for international registration must designate one or more Contracting Parties where protection is sought. Further designations can be effected subsequently. A Contracting Party may be designated only if it is party to the same treaty as the Contracting Party whose Office is the Office of origin. The latter cannot itself be designated in the international application.

The designation of a given Contracting Party is made either under the Agreement or under the Protocol, depending on which treaty is common to the Contracting Parties concerned. If both Contracting Parties are party to both the Agreement and the Protocol, the designation will be governed by the Agreement, in accordance with the so-called “safeguard clause”

Where all the designations are effected under the Agreement the international application, and any other subsequent communication, must be in French. Where at least one designation is effected under the Protocol, the applicant has the option of English or French, unless the Office of origin restricts this choice to one of these.

The filing of an international application is subject to the payment of a basic fee (which is reduced to 10% of the prescribed amount for international applications filed by applicants whose country of origin is a Least Developed Country (LDC), in accordance with the list established by the United Nations), a supplementary fee for each class of goods and/or services beyond the first three classes, and a complementary fee for each Contracting Party designated. However, a Contracting Party to the Protocol may declare that when it is designated under the Protocol, the complementary fee is to be replaced by an individual fee, whose amount is determined by the Contracting Party concerned but may not be higher than the amount which would be payable for the registration of a mark with its Office.